What I talked about goodness knows, but out it came

Jim: The Life of E W Swanton by David Rayvern Allen (Aurum)

By David Rayvern Allen

12:01AM BST 26 Jul 2004

Jim's initial contact with the BBC came when he was still nursing his wounds after being off-loaded from the Bodyline tour by The Evening Standard. Looking to maximise the pecuniary potential of all his ventures, he had proposed a topical talk on Sir Julian Cahn's North American tour of which he was a member.

Unfortunately, in the latter part of 1933 the BBC did not think it was very topical. Undeterred, a few months later, Jim managed to talk his way into an appointment with Seymour Joli de Lotbiniere – 'Lobby' to one and all – and soon to become head of outside broadcasts.

"Swanton, the Evening Standard cricket and rugby football correspondent, came to see me this afternoon," wrote Lobby to the head of topical talks.

"I gave him a voice test and got him to describe to me some of his experiences as a member of Sir Julian Cahn's team who toured the West Indies (sic) this summer. He struck me as having the Howard Marshall manner.

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"I told him that we would bear his name in mind but that we were well satisfied with Howard Marshall. However, he might be useful to you if you wanted him suddenly to do some match for a 9.10 topical talk – say, the first match which the Australians play against Worcester some time in mid-April or early May.

"He has not a very attractive personality, but I think he might do the job reasonably well …"

With the praise for his early efforts fast forgotten, adverse criticism took over. Criticism, one should add, that came from within the Corporation rather than without. Listeners, as far as one can tell, seemed, on the whole, to like what they heard of E W S.

Other upbraidings from the overly safety-conscious programme executives and editors – who, we must remember, were operating under the easily incurred disapprobation of the Calvinistic Reith and in a very sheltered and shockable Britain – suggest that with his many activities, Jim was taking a few of life's responsibilities too lightly.

May 14, 1935

Dear Swanton,

There is one point in the manuscript of last Sunday's talk which I think I ought to mention. You spoke of a man taking three-to-one against Middlesex's chance of winning the Championship. We feel that it was perhaps a pity to give even the slightest impression that cricket in this country is becoming a subject of betting. [The writer seems unaware of how the game achieved prominence in England during the 18th century, or indeed that Jim was not averse to a flutter himself.] Obviously, this was simply a small private bet, but listeners are not always very careful in the inferences they draw from what they hear, and such a remark might give a wrong impression.

What you might have said is `People are saying the chances are as much as two-to-one in favour of Middlesex winning the Championship', or something like that.

You may perhaps feel that this is rather a quibbling point, but I can assure you we do have to be astoundingly careful.

E W S: from the Trout Inn, Oxford, May 17

I note the contents of your letter and will endeavour not to offend again. Clearly you do have to be most careful, and, in retrospect, the remark was certainly better omitted.

When it came to admonishing Jim, the tone was a model of circumspection.

Jan 17, 1936

Dear Mr Swanton,

We have received reports on your Sports Talk last Sunday, which suggest that it must have sounded unusually hesitant to the listener. I have no doubt that this arose from your desire to sound natural and to avoid anything like a set speech. This, of course, is obviously the right effect to aim at, and I am sure that you will be able to avoid any appearance of excessive hesitancy in the future, perhaps by the use of fuller notes.

I also see from the log that your last talk ran to nearly

10 minutes. We are particularly anxious to keep the Newsletter and Sports Summary to their correct timing as they are often followed by important programmes, and there is no room for any elasticity once your talks have been recorded. So can you try to keep your talks down to seven minutes, or at any rate to let us know if you are likely to over-run when there are a special lot of important things to record?

E W S: Jan 20, 1936

Thank you for your suggestions.

I have been experimenting with fewer notes because, as you say, they tend towards a more natural effect. It so happened that I went in on Sunday and listened to my talk, and realised that it was unusually hesitant. I am inclined to trace this more to a dose of catarrh, and an accompanying mental congestion, than to the absence of a set talk! Your note about the time limit will be duly observed.

Having asked Michael Standing if he could join him at the Oval during the fifth Test between England and Australia, Swanton at last made the breakthrough he was seeking.

He was asked to commentate on the forthcoming match between Surrey and Lancashire at the Oval, sharing half an hour before lunch and half an hour in the evening with former Surrey captain, Percy Fender, who was covering the Sussex and Yorkshire game at Hove. In effect, this was a trial run for South Africa. Unbelievably, with so much resting on his performance, Jim took a foolhardy risk. He had been invited to be an usher at the wedding of his old flatmate Henry Longhurst at Dulwich and on the second afternoon of the match left the game for the nuptials.

Eventually he returned `full of bonhomie' in time to be `filled in' on the score and details (by Monty Garland Wells, the Surrey captain, no less). The first 15 minutes of the scheduled half-hour had been allotted to the match at Hove and Jim had just seated himself when he heard Fender say that due to rain there was no play at the moment and therefore he would hand over without delay to Swanton at the Oval.

"I wasn't worried at the prospect of talking for half an hour. But nine Surrey wickets were down, and nothing was less likely than that Ted Brooks and Alf Gover would last that time. I had no idea whether between innings one should return listeners to the studio or keep going.

"In the event there was some mild fun to be had with the last-wicket stand – always good commentary material – before, inevitably, one of them got out and the field emptied. Ten minutes on the microphone can be a long time, especially with no Webber or Frindall to cough up `records' and figure details. I'm not sure that we had scorers even in Test matches before the war, certainly I had none that day.

What I talked about goodness knows, but out it came – associative material as, I came to learn, it is known in the OB department. I ended by giving an over or two of the Lancashire second innings, and by the time I came off the air at six o'clock `Lobby' had got through to the engineer with a message of appreciation.

Overnight any doubts about Jim's ability receded. A contract for South Africa was virtually assured.

Jim: The Life of E W Swanton by David Rayvern Allen (Aurum) is available for £16.99 + £2.25 p&p. To order please call Telegraph Books Direct on 0870 155 7222